1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for providing an automotive engine with variable levels of charge air cooling, including an intense intermittent level which may be accompanied by an increase in intake manifold pressure provided by a booster device such as a turbo supercharger ("turbocharger") or other boost device such as a mechanically driven supercharger.
2. Disclosure Information
Engine designers seeking to obtain higher performance levels from automobile engines, particularly during intermittent operation, have devised increasingly complex solutions. Accordingly, systems are currently used for providing engines with nitrous oxide, and various schemes are used for supercharging or turbocharging engines. A drawback inherent with nitrous oxide arises from the fact that a nitrous bottle must be refilled frequently because the amount of nitrous capable of being carried with most systems is quite low as compared with the added weight associated with the nitrous system. Although supercharge and turbocharge air systems provide advantages, it would be desirable to nevertheless provide a much higher output from the engine intermittently, but without the need for either nitrous injection or overcharged boost equipment, and the present invention accomplishes this.
Japanese patent 93,118 discloses a system for refrigerating air entering an engine air inlet. The system of the '118 patent does, however, suffer from a shortcoming because the refrigeration plant is used only for the purpose of refrigerating the air found within a surge tank. Such a system is necessarily limited in its capability because only a small quantity of air may be accommodated, compared with the large quantity of air flowing through an engine at high speed and high load conditions.
A system and method according to the present invention overcomes the drawbacks of the '118 patent by providing a highly superior thermal reservoir in the form of a liquid coolant reservoir which is refrigerated by an on-board air conditioning compressor such that the liquid coolant is available to flood a charge air-to-cooling liquid heat exchanger to provide extra densification of charge air for brief periods of time. A system according to the present invention provides increased engine output without the need for an oversized supercharger or turbocharger and without the attendant drawbacks of nitrous oxide systems.